WTVA – Work progresses on new heritage center

TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) – Work is underway on a new addition along the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The new Chickasaw Heritage Center in Tupelo is expected to open in March of 2027, in its first phase.

The center – 162 square acres – will be a space for guests to view the unique story of the Chickasaw people.

“When people come onto our campus, they will be immediately engulfed with Chickasaw culture and Chickasaw history,” said Brady Davis, the CEO of Chickasaw Inkana Foundation.

The $60 million project will be done in two phases, the first of which will include several trails, a road connecting the campus to the Natchez Trace, an open plaza, and ecological restoration of the Blackland Prairie.

During construction of new trails and the new access road to the parkway, there will be trail closures. The Blackland Prairie trail between West Jackson Street and the Chickasaw Village site of the trace will be closed temporarily.

The centerpiece will be a 10,000-square-foot exhibit hall that will tell the Chickasaw Nation’s story.

“Beautiful lobby, atrium, gift shop, art gallery that showcases Chickasaw artists both past and present,” Davis said. ”A large community room for events, archaeological and collection storage, and our administrative offices.”

Phase two is still in the fundraising stage. The goal is to transform the campus into a community center.

“There will be a full cafe there that will serve traditional American fare, but also traditional Chickasaw dishes,” Davis said. ”A large theater that will sit around 200 people at 8-foot rounds or about 250 people in a theater setting.”

It will also have a playground and traditional stick ball field.

Why in Tupelo?

“Around what is today Tupelo, Mississippi, was a centerpiece of that homeland where all major villages were located right in this area until 1800,” Davis said.